All The Best Men

And with that the doors swung open, revealing a rapturous crowd. Like in a movie, a ray of sunlight streamed from the heavens, hitting Elaine’s blonde head and making her glow. And what do you know, but my friend beamed then, as beautiful as a fairy princess.

Even for me, it was hard to believe that a mere five seconds earlier, she’d been screaming and cursing like a sailor, practically purple with rage.

But all’s well that ends well, and relieved, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. Thank god. An epic disaster averted, and mentally, I made note to award myself with an extra large slice of cake later.

But suddenly Mary, the wedding coordinator turned to me, hand gestures frantic.

“Ready,” she mouthed. “Three, two, one …” and then she pointed straight at me like a movie director. It was my turn.

The timing couldn’t have been worse. Not only was I hassled and annoyed, panting and sweaty, but I had on a puke-green bridesmaid dress with an ugly tear at the bottom. To add to my misery, Elaine had picked something with ruffles. Not just a discreet ruffle here, or a discreet ruffle there. But literally ten tiers of ruffles, making me look like the big green monster from Hell.

But there were no options. It was Elaine’s big day, and when she’d presented me with the dress, it had been all I could do to smile weakly and say, “Thanks.”

“You’re gonna look beautiful!” Elaine cooed, eyeing the gown and admiring her own taste. “Absolutely ravishing.”

I swallowed hard. Was my friend for real? Because anyone with eyes could tell that even a professional model would look bad in this thing. But brides often pick ugly bridesmaids dresses so they look better by comparison. Swallowing hard, I could only manage another weak, “Thanks,” before taking a swig of my drink.

But now the moment was here. It was time to parade down the aisle, all eyes on me in this massive glob of green. Oh, and the hem had a million loose threads. If I was lucky, I wouldn’t trip and land flat on my face. The perfect ending to this debacle.

Suddenly the organ music swelled loudly again, Mary’s hand gestures growing ever more frantic. So smacking a smile on my face, I tried to look thrilled, taking one step forwards. There was no gasp of awe, no delighted smiles when the guests saw me. If anything, there were only shocked stares instead.

Because yeah, I’m a big girl. I’m curvy everywhere, and the thing about these ruffles were they were in all the wrong spots. The ones at my bust made my Double Ds seem even bigger, and the ones at my hips only emphasized my sassy figure. I tried to walk gracefully, but the ruffles on my ass wiggled and swayed like a showgirl’s feathers.

Smiling frozenly, I placed one foot in front of the other, mentally telling myself to move forwards. Keep going, keep going, the voice in my head urged. Almost there.

And finally, I was at the end of the aisle. The entire walk, my eyes faced forward, seeing but not seeing, almost like headlights frozen in place. But now I had to turn left, and my head jerked slightly as I got my bearings. Smile. Keep smiling.

But as my eyes focused, suddenly the world was upended. Because there was Bobby, the groom, standing there sweating bullets. I felt sorry for the poor guy, his suit looked too tight on that portly figure, and clearly, the A/C in the church wasn’t enough to keep him cool. There were growing wet patches under his arms, showing through his wedding suit.

But it was the men standing next to him that made my breath catch, insides going warm and loose. Because there were three gorgeous, dark-haired men lined up next to the groom. Massive with incredible builds, they took me in with bright blue eyes, knowing smiles curving those lips.

Who were these guys? Why hadn’t I seen them before? Suddenly it came rushing back. That’s right, these were Bobby’s friends from childhood, three alpha males allegedly so successful that they couldn’t leave their fancy careers in New York until the last minute. So they’d missed the pre-wedding dinner last night, as well as the ceremony rehearsal this afternoon.

But wow, what an introduction. Because they were devastatingly gorgeous. No one was going to look at me. No one was going to notice my ripped dress or the way that I was sweating slightly. In fact, no one was even going to notice Elaine for that matter, these guys were that magnetic, bright blue eyes like lasers.

But my body jerked into motion once again. If I’d been self-conscious before, I was even more self-conscious now. With slow steps, I walked stiffly to the far edge of the altar, positioning myself next to the other bridesmaids. Oh my god, oh my god. Hopefully, my performance hadn’t been too robotic and stilted.